Mom Gets 40 Years In Death Of Her Baby

A South Side woman was sentenced Thursday to 40 years in prison for fatally beating one of her eight children because the infant would not stop crying.

Mary Weekly, 29, of 4845 S. Federal St., appeared before Cook County Circuit Judge James Schreier. She was sentenced for killing her 4 1/2-month-old son, Jermaine, on Nov. 2, 1990.

"She blames children . . . and she blames hospital personnel," said Assistant State's Atty. Laura Lambur, referring to explanations Weekly gave of how her son was injured. "But she is the one who chooses to beat up on tiny, helpless, 4 1/2-month-old infants."

The case garnered controversy in October 1991 when Judge Gerald Winiecki jailed a Department of Children and Family Services caseworker for 4 months for criminal contempt of court. Ahmad Muhammad had said that his client had finished treatment for a cocaine problem and taken parenting classes when she had not.

He was the first DCFS worker to be cited for a crime for failing to protect a child in his care. Evidence showed he never checked to see if Weekly had enrolled in the court-ordered classes.

Prosecutors Lambur and Maryanne Mlikotic said Weekly deserved a lengthy prison term because she waited seven or eight hours before seeking medical care for Jermaine and even then, she failed to tell physicians the boy had suffered a head injury.

Weekly told police Jermaine had begun crying early in the morning, and when he had not stopped three hours later, she shook him and carried him out of the room, Lambur said. As she carried him, she said his head bumped the door jamb twice, Lambur said.

She later told police her niece had been watching the child when the injuries occurred, and she said her son had been watching Jermaine when he fell off a bed, prosecutors said.

A physician testified that the child could not have suffered the injuries from the alleged bumps or a fall, Lambur said. The physician said that to sustain such injuries, the child would have to be wielded like a baseball bat and swung against a wall.

Weekly's assistant public defender, Viola Rouse, asked for leniency, saying that it was Weekly's first conviction. She also said that this was an isolated case and that Jermaine had not suffered on-going abuse.